Squire

In June 1978 Anthony Meynell was a songwriter/guitarist with a fistful of sharp '60s inspired pop songs but no band to perform them with. SQUIRE were already an establihed local group performing mainly covers and consisting of Enzo Esposito (bass/vocals), Steve Baker(guitar), and Ross Di'Landa (drums). Meynell talked Esposito into letting him join the band and thus squeezed into Squire line up on lead guitar just in time for their prestigious support at the Guildford Civic Hall to those other local boys, The JAM.
The gig at the Guildford Civic provided the group with their first press coverage: a live review in 'SOUNDS' which described their style as "Bantam-weight punk". In mid-1978 no one had thought of calling it mod. As 1978 progressed Meynell engineered the band into their new musical direction and it was as early as this that he penned many of the Squire songs that were to become favourites the following year. But meynell did more than just provide the musical inspiration for the group, he also brought along the image. They were already beginning to be seen in the sta-Press trousers and boating blazers that were to become the Squire trademark.
Early in 1979 Squire signed a one-off deal with ROK Records, which resulted in the group having track released on one side of the label's first single. The single was "Get Ready To Go", ironically a pre-Squire composition but importantly the first ever vinyl release from the 1979 British mod scene. It was an enthusiastic and speedy number with lyrics that amounted to little more than a constant repetition of the title, but the message was clear: Squire were ready to go! And it was this unusual single that helped them on their way. It gained them their first radio airplay (on the John Peel show) and their first London gig.
On the strenght of the ROK single, Squire gained further London gigs before their next big break came with the recording of the now legendary "Mods Mayday" album. But their place on the record was secured by little more than luck. Hearing that a concert at The Bridgehouse was to be recorded for a live album. Squire turned up on the off-chance of being able to play.
The Little Roosters didn't arrive and Squire were slotted on to the bill. They performed a 25-minute set from which "Walking Down The kings Road", "Live Without Herlove" and "B-A-B-Y Baby love" were chosen as the group's contribution to the LP. The "Mods Mayday" album stirred up quite a bit of interest in Squire, most notably from Ian Page of Secret Affair who was soon to sign the group to the I-Spy label. In the meantime, however, Squire were in the process of recording "B-A-B-Y Baby Love" for Soho Records. The signing to I-Spy prevented the eventual release of this but the recording did highlight a signifiant deficiency in the Squire line up. If the group were to go any further they needed a new drummer. Out went Di'Landa and in came Meynell's younger brother Kevin. Steve Baker then quit, angry at what seemed to him to be take over within the band. Squire were left as a three piece.
Records companies were slowly beginning to realise that mod music might be a marketable product. All had watched with interest as The Merton parkas entered the top 40 in august 1979 and by September everybody wanted a piece of the action. Secret Affair, The Purple Hearts, The Chords, and Back To Zero all release their debut singles, while Squire too hoped to make a sizeable dent in the charts with their own mod classic "Walking Down The Kings Road". Combining a crisply simplistic finger snapping pop tune and delightfully extravagant over-produced finale, 'Kings Road' had all the ingredients for sucess, but despite extensive radio airplay, it scraped into the top 75 and surprisingly climbed no higher.
Their third single was again released on I-Spy, coupling perfectly "The Face Of Youth Today" and "I Know A girl". This saw Squire at their most Beatlesque: simple but infectious melodies and inviting vocals were bound together by the perfectly sparing Page/Cairns production. Perhaps neither of the tracks possessed theobvious chart potential of "Kings Road" but the result was a single that earnestly implored you to believe that it was taken from the soundtrack of "A Hard Days Night".
Just after the release of "The Face Of Youth Today", I-Spy's parent company Arista was taken-over by Ariola and the entire I-Spy set-up looked increasingly insecure. Taking the advice of Secret Affair's Dave Cairns, Squire left I-Spy in order to find a deal elsewhere. Thus they entedred 1980 with an unpromoted single, no record deal, and considerable problems with their management.
In March 1980 Squire signed a deal with the independant Stage one label and released "My Mind Goes Round In Circles", a gusty piece of mod-pop. On the flip was "Does Stephanie Know?" - with its staccato rhythm guitar, rolling drum sound and perfect harmonies (provided by Kristy McColl), it proved to be the perfect complement to the A-side.
For a while it seemed as if Squire had split-up. Enzo had left the band (not tobe replaced until Jon Bicknell joined much later) and Meynell was trying to sort the legal tangles which had resulted from bad management. It was during this time that he decided to set up Hi-Lo Records to achieve a greater control over Squire's output. The first release came in 1981 with a compilation of old Squire demos, marketed for various legal reasons under the name of Anthony Meynell. The album, entitled "Hits from 3,000 Years ago", disposed of all the old Squire material leaving the path clear for future releases.
After what had been some 18 months of little real activity Squire finally re-emerged in February 1982 with the psychedelic-soundong "No Time Tomorrow". Possibly one the best Squire recordings, it captured them playing in a style that they had bever previously attempted. Meynell claims that "No Time Tomorrow" was typical of most of his songs at that time but no others were to surface.
The next single combined two of Anthony Meynell's favourite compositions. The a-side was "Girl On a Train", a typical Squire song, heavily reliant on close harmonies and a strong pop tune. It quickly became Squire's best known track in the US. On the B-side was a number called "Every Trick(In The book Of Love)" which has been released in several versions - and it is the "Get Smart" album version that appears here.
The next project was due to be the recording of the first proper Squire album, "Get smart", but this was delayed by the urgent requests that Meynell visit America. Both "Hits From 3,000 Years Ago" and "The Squire Fan Club Album" had sold well in the USA, where Squire were being recognized as a versatile pop outfit. While in Britain the music press and radio stations were still defiantly anti-Squire, Meynell returned from a short trip to California having played four shows to capacity crowds. The future for Squire, it seemed, could quite possibly lie abroad.
After many delays and much planning, the long awaited "Get Smart" was finally released in August 1983. Recorded in London and Los angeles, it was an album for the '80s from a new Squire. "Get smart" was the product of Squire - the pop band, and was thus lavishly packaged and superbly produced. Above all it was an album that should have been acknowledged, but it ran straight into a critical brick wall. "Jesamine", the single from the album suffered the same fate. What "Get Smart" did archieve, however, was to pick up many new fans for the group - connaisseurs of good pop music who were not particulary aware of the band's mod heritage.
In May 1984 Squire released "September Gurls", a jangly grown up mini-album of cover versions and originals compositions. The title track, an Alex Chilton composition, again brought plaudits from new quarters, helping them to selling increasing quantities abroad, but still the band were ignored in their own country. At about the same time the Squire fan club released a single entitled "The young Idea". Compared to the subtlety of "September Gurls", it was an out-and-out mod record aimed at the Squire hardcore who had claimed that the band could no longer play music with guts. Squire proved they could but sales were disappointing. "With "The young idea" I found myself taking a step backwards to satisfy what turned to out be a minority", remembers Meynell. "We'd had sucess in Europe, we were picking up new fans all the time, but I began to realise I couldn't satisfy myself and them while shackled to the name of Squire. It was time for a great leap forward. To play new material with all the passion and enthusiasm that a new band brings, that excited me."
Meynell cancelled the recording of "Smash" (the next Squire album) realising that he would be wasting time putting out another album to be critically ignored. It was time to leave Squire behind.
There were no more Squire releases, but the memory lives on. Unlike other groups whose failed attempts at chart fame have long since faded from memory, Squire are a group whose name and reputation will live on.